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Man United 3-0 Aston Villa: Red Devils celebrate 20th league title

An outstanding hat-trick performance from Robin van Persie helped Manchester United secure a landmark 20th league title with four games still to play following their 3-0 thumping of Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

Villa’s outlook is looking less bright however, as the defeat means they still hover dangerously over the relegation zone and are only three points clear of the drop.

United were rampant right from kick-off, and Van Persie put his dry spell well and truly behind him with a quick-fire trio of goals inside 30 minutes.

The Dutchman netted his first inside 90 seconds when a Ryan Giggs cross allowed the frontman to tap home from yards out, and he fired in his second - his 23rd of the season - when he met Wayne Rooney’s pinpoint lobbed ball with an awe-inspiring volley that rocketed past the stranded Brad Guzan in the Villans’ net.

Paul Lambert's side briefly interrupted United’s dominance when Andreas Weimann pounced on a loose ball, sprinted into United’s half and put Christian Benteke through on goal, but the big Belgian fired his curling finish just over the bar.

But the Red Devils continued to press the leaky Villa back-four, and Van Persie capitalised on their hesitance by scoring his third on the half-hour mark, when he was again picked out by Giggs and fired high into the roof of the net for his fifth Premier League hat-trick.

After the break, the striker continued to showcase his abilities all over the pitch when he was on hand to clear Weimann's goal-bound header off the line following a Villa corner.

The visitors had more opportunities to claw their way back into the game in the second-half through Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor, but the confident David de Gea dominated his area well and also produced a fine save to tip Karim El Ahmadi’s long range effort over the bar.

Japan international Shinji Kagawa also missed a glorious opportunity to add his name to the score sheet towards the end of the game, working his way into the perfect position but blazing his effort over the bar from five yards.

Van Persie was the shining star once again and was arguably the difference for United in this season’s title race, but Ferguson will have to wait a while to welcome the coveted trophy back to the Theatre of Dreams, with the champions' presentation taking place after their final home game of the season against Swansea in May.